Summering Review: James Ponsoldt's Latest Entry Fumbles
Summering is mostly a mess and a little bit of a mystery. One of the shortest films of the year feels like a slog thanks to writer-director james Ponsoldt (The Circle). Except for the opening scene, the performances fall flat from beginning to end, and neither the set production nor the cinematography are particularly noteworthy. On paper, the movie seems to be a typical independent comedy set within an Amblin action movie. Additionally, Summering occasionally has the vibe of a movie that relies more on tone and emotion than on a clear narrative. The finished product is a film that is unsure of its identity.
The change from elementary to middle school is completely absorbed by Dina (Madalen Mills), daisy (Lia Barnett), Mari (Eden Grace Redfield), and Lola (Sanai Victoria). The sisters are determined to make the most of their final summer of youth before their lives and the world around them change irrevocably. And when they discover a corpse in the woods, their entire world does shift. daisy is unconcerned, Mari wants to call the police, Dina and Lola want more information before acting, and daisy is not interested. The girls consent to look for any leads they can uncover in the neighbourhood while looking into the man's death. They quickly come to the realisation that the journey itself is what matters and that their friendship will last a lifetime.
The Spectacular Now may have led viewers to believe that Ponsoldt burst onto the scene. But his well-received 2006 thriller Off The Black, starring Nick Nolte, told the gritty tale of a parent who wants his son to pose as him at a school union as his feature-length debut. Both movies do a good job of depicting young people's disappointment, but in very different ways. Ponsoldt has an uncanny ability to convey the ephemeral nature of childhood without ever having to explicitly state it. The director uses narrative strategies in movies like The End of the Tour to make viewers think about what time spent and time wasted might mean to different people throughout their lives. Unfortunately, Ponsoldt's signature manoeuvre, summering, is the most literal and uninteresting variation.
Every act of Summering stumbles, with changes in tempo and tone that appear arbitrary. Despite the fact that Ponsoldt is armed with films like The Spectacular Now and The End of the Tour, Summering falls short of even his alleged failures like The Circle. Although graceful at points, the storyline lacks any form of concentration, and the cinematography cannot make up for the film's flaws. The actors are doomed from the beginning since no other aspect of the filmmaking process is supporting them. Summering is a plodding, ultimately uninteresting mystery that accomplishes little to meaningfully depict childhood.